indianews

Bangalore, May 25: Film: ‘Julie’; Cast: Ramya, Dino Morea, Ramesh Bhatt, Si Hi Ka Hi Chandru, Chitra Shenoy and others; Director: Poornima Mohan; Producer: K.C.N. Mohan; Music director: Rajesh Ramanath

The Kannada version of hugely popular Hindi film ‘Julie’ is a good example of how not to remake a film.

Produced by veteran K.C.N Mohan and directed by his wife Poornima, ‘Julie’ features Ramya and Bollywood actor Dino Morea in the lead roles. Apart from them there are some talented Kannada artistes in the film. But the film fails to live up to expectations.

In her debut as a director, instead of making well needed changes in the script, Poornima has just copied frame-for-frame the Hindi film ‘Julie’, which was based on the Malayalam hit ‘Chattakkari’.

In both the films, Lakshmi played the title role and won laurels for her brilliant performance.

In the new version, changes were required mainly because there has been a revolutionary change in the mindset of today’s India on issues like premarital sex and the single parent.

Single parents now live with dignity and many a youngster knows how to handle premarital sex without creating any embarrassment. But the narration in the film does not depart at all from the Hindi original produced in the 1970s.

This is the story of a young Christian girl Julie who falls in love with a Hindu boy and gets pregnant. But she receives a jolt when her friend leaves the city to get a good job.

Her mother tries to force her to abort the child but Julie is determined to give birth.

Ramya gives a decent performance in the title role. Dino, however, looks totally uninterested in the proceedings. The character artistes have given better performances than the lead pair.

There is nothing much to write about the music - Rajesh Ramanath has just lifted tunes from the Hindi film.